The Limits of Liu Shiwen's Game
This is a brand-new, technically focused column in a question-and-answer format. The mystery experts answering the questions are two former national-team players (both now veteran coaches) who would rather stay anonymous. They just want a quiet life and a good night’s sleep, with no interest in fame.
I think sharing these technical insights with everyone is genuinely valuable, and a nice complement to what we usually do here. So this “Reaching the Summit” column was born.
How do shakehand (two-side reverse rubber) players handle the pips crowd?
Amateurs use all kinds of pimpled rubbers a lot. Some play single-sided, some have reverse rubber on one side and pips on the other. When you’re up against them, how should a two-sided reverse-rubber player approach things?
What’s the advantage of reverse (inverted) rubber? Spin. So you have to make the most of your spin. Reverse rubber plays a line; what about pips? Pips play a point, understand? It’s the same against both short pips and medium pips.
Against long pips: the more spin you put on, the more spin comes back. So you can loop one ball, push one ball, then follow with another loop, and that’s it.
Honestly, more than half of it is psychological. People are scared of long pips. Find a long-pips practice partner and drill the way I’m describing. Just do fixed-position drills: you serve no-spin, let your opponent push it back, you loop it up, let them block, then you push, let them poke it back, and you slow-roll the next one. It becomes very clear. You’ll never feel rushed at all. It’s all the effect of nerves.
Is Liu Shiwen’s forehand stroke more compact than other women’s-team players?
Watching Liu Shiwen’s forehand from a side-on angle recently, her motion seems a bit different from the rest of the women’s team. It’s smaller and more compact, often braking before the racket even reaches eye level, not as extended. Is that true? She’s quick, sure, but it feels like it demands more from the upper arm and torso. Does that make her more prone to injury?
Playing this way, the arm doesn’t get hurt easily, but the waist and legs are more vulnerable.
This style relies on speed; the power won’t be all that strong. It plays on placement, which means her anticipation has to be extremely precise and her placement extremely accurate. So she suppresses opponents with speed.
Because she has trained for power, her instantaneous force on contact is still fairly concentrated when she plays this way. But because her backswing is so short, her power is smaller than others’. It’s a textbook case of winning through racket-swing speed (footwork-to-stroke tempo). She’s hitting everything on the rise or in the late rising phase.
Footwork tips for tall players (around 185 cm) who keep getting jammed at the body
The worry is that as you get older, you’ll easily injure your legs and knee joints. At that height, the footwork people generally use is the side step and small shuffle steps.
But small shuffle steps often leave you not quite in position, with the stroke getting a little distorted. Where’s your body’s center of gravity? It has to rely on the strength of the soles of your feet, linking side steps with small shuffle steps. You can’t rely on small shuffle steps alone. Sometimes one shot requires three or four steps, and your center of gravity has to press onto the balls of your feet. If you find moving very strenuous, it means your foot muscles aren’t strong enough.
Tall players put more pressure on the thighs and knee joints, so I’d recommend wearing a patella strap.